The Big One
by Michael Moore
List Price:
Our Price: $4.73
You Save: $15.26 (76%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.74 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Michael MooreDirector: Michael Moore
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Performer: Elaine Bly
Performer: Dan Burns
Performer: Chip Carter
Performer: Bill Clinton
Performer: Jim Czarnecki
Performer: Brian Danitz
Performer: Robert Dornan
Performer: Joel Feick
Performer: Steve Forbes
Performer: Doug France
Performer: Mary Gielow
Performer: Bev Jacowski
Performer: Richard Jewell
Performer: Kevin Keane
Performer: Garrison Keillor
Performer: Andy Crash Kelly
Performer: Phil Knight
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-28
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Miramax Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of The Big One
DVD Review: If You Liked "Bowling" and "Farenheit", Watch "The Big One"
Summary: 5 Stars
This film follows Michael Moore promoting his book, "Downsize This! Random Threats From An Unarmed American". But Moore doesn't just go to bookstores and that's it. He manages to stop in a town where they make PayDay candy bars, only to find out that management is planning to close the factory down. Moore is somehow able to talk with a manager who tells him that if PayDay sold more, the push to close the factory would've been quicker. Moore's response, as ours should be, is "That's insane!"
This moment only skims the surface of what "The Big One" is like. Yet, the subjects it takes on are so touchy that it's no wonder the film was produced by The British Broadcasting Corporation (with Miramax kicking in, of course). For much of the film, Moore tries to talk to executives who have downsized their workforce and give them awards for being "corporate crooks". He nearly gets arrested at one point.
If Moore's message is more serious and dour in light of "Bowling For Columbine" and "Farenheit 9/11", you'd be surprised how pointed and humorous Moore is in this film. While talking to some DJs, he suggests that America should change its name to The Big One (hence the title), that the national symbol should be a bald man instead of a bald eagle and our national anthem should be Queen's "We Will Rock You" because everybody knows it and we all sing it at the ballpark.
Some of the things revealed in this movie should be required viewing during this election year. Such as the fact that some companies hire prisoners to work as telemarketers or to book airline flights. One current Bush crony, Tommy Thompson, doesn't come off well here. To show the former Governor that welfare mothers are not idle and want to work, Moore invites a group of welfare mothers over to clean up the Governor's office.
And there's a scattershot moment of former Congressman Bob Dornan complaining that illegal aliens voted for his opponent, Loretta Sanchez; Moore responds by filing countercharges that the people who voted for Dornan were insane.
The film ends with Moore having a sit-down with Philip Knight, the CEO of Nike and it is here that the film reveals its most potent, sobering moments. Nike makes most of its shoes in Indonesia by teenage girls working in filthy conditions and being paid pittance under the guise of a military dictatorship. Though millions of Americans buy Nike shoes, they don't make Nike shoes in America. So, Moore gives Knight some airline tickets to Indonesia telling him, "You've got to see what it's like! You've got to go!" Knight's reasoning for making shoes in Indonesia is that Americans don't want to make shoes. Yet, Moore shows Knight a video of people in his hometown of Flint, Michigan saying that they'd be willing to make shoes for Nike.
If you enjoyed "Bowling For Columbine" or "Farenheit 9/11", you'll definitely enjoy this rarely seen documentary. It's funny as well as eye-opening, in typical Moore fashion. Moore is supposedly working on another doc about the medical insurance companies. Doesn't sound like an interesting subject for a film? Well, in "The Big One", Moore and several protestors gather outside the headquarters of Kaiser-Permanente. The titles below the screen read, "This is a HMO---HMO stands for Hand the Money Over". In the words of our current Commander In Chief, bring it on!
Description of The Big One
BIG ONE - DVD MovieA brazen mixture of stand-up comedy, political commentary, CEO confrontations, and shenanigans with Random House tour escorts, Michael Moore's second foray into dark docucomedy after Roger and Me follows his Midwest book tour to promote Downsize This. One of his Milwaukee tour escorts explains that medium-sized cities in the Midwest tend not to attract tours by the self-important celebrities of the Coasts; instead, they attract "more thoughtful authors like Michael." His kind of thoughtfulness evokes both laughter at, and disgust with, corporate America. To be sure, there is a certain naiveté in Moore's proworker take on corporate and political America--his half-serious plan for a Nike shoe factory in Flint, Michigan, makes as much business sense as coal mining on Maui--but he gives voice to well-reasoned arguments that have most easily gotten lost amid the Clinton-era boom's corporate downsizing and reliance on "temporary" employees.
In cities like Des Moines, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Portland, The Big One juxtaposes both Moore's lighthearted-sounding but deeply biting humor speaking before bookstore patrons and painful-to-watch confrontations with security personnel at companies such as Procter & Gamble and PayDay. (For future targets of Moore's style of journalism, take note of Nike CEO Phil Knight's fairly effective approach as Moore calls him to task on Nike's Indonesian labor.) Moore speaks clandestinely with Borders employees organizing a union; a woman laid off from Ford attends Moore's Rockford, Illinois, bookstore visit the same day. Though slow in spots, frustrating if not depressing in others, it's intensely funny the rest of the time. The Big One is fundamental viewing. --Erik Macki
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Inside JobSony; Release date: 2011-03-08; DVD
Best price: $14.28
Price in other shops:
ReligulousLIONS GATE HOME ENT.; Release date: 2009-02-17; DVD
Best price: $7.28
Price in other shops:
Slacker UprisingRelease date: 2008-10-07; DVD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
The Awful Truth - The Complete DVD Set (Seasons 1 & 2)New Video; Release date: 2003-04-29; DVD
Best price: $14.19
Price in other shops:
Roger & MeWarner Brothers; Release date: 2003-08-19; DVD
Best price: $10.94
Price in other shops:
Bowling for ColumbineMGM; Release date: 2003-08-19; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Lifeby Michael Moore
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2011-09-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Fahrenheit 9/ 11Genius; Release date: 2007-07-03; DVD
Best price: $5.06
Price in other shops:
Sicko (Special Edition)Genius; Release date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
Michael Moore - Capitalism: A Love StoryFox; Release date: 2010-03-09; DVD
Best price: $3.72
Price in other shops: